Image: Instagram
Instagram is rolling out new features for Reels. Meta is rolling out templates, allowing users to create their own videos based on others' formats. The Reels templates allow users to fill in a predefined formats with their photos and videos. For instance, a template could consist of five clips, each 0.7 seconds long, with a specific song playing in the background.
This makes it easy for users to join viral trends without spending much time editing. But it also means more content will look quite similar, with only minor variations.
I've seen templates on the platform before, but it's now even more customizable and accessible. Users will soon be able to use the same text and transitions as the original video, but they can also change them if they want to add some uniqueness.
Instagram will also provide more ways for users to discover templates, such as a new page that shows recommendations from Instagram and popular templates from other users. Users can also save templates for later use on this page.
Templates are not exclusive to Instagram. Other short-form video apps, like TikTok, also offer similar features.